It is August. There will finally be college football games played in THIS month. Can I get an Amen?
Well, actually one game. Hawaii vs Cal will be Friday August 26th. Then it gets real on Thursday September 1st with sixteen games including an SEC matchup of South Carolina at Vanderbilt. That game could actually decide whether either one of those teams becomes bowl eligible in 2016. Will Muschamp could get off to a real bad start with losses to Vandy and Miss State to start the season. Two days later we get the first Saturday of the 2016 college football season.
There are some very interesting matchups for the opening Saturday. There are good games all day long like Aubun-Clemson, Alabama-USC and Georgia-North Carolina. Georgia Tech-Boston College and Missouri-West Virginia are also key games that can set the tone of the season for the teams involved. Then Sunday gives us Texas-Notre Dame and Labor Day we get Ole Miss-Florida State. It will be a Labor Day weekend full of great football to light the fuse on the upcoming season. Of course, I will be eager to see how my Gators’ offense fares against what should be a very overmatched UMass.
Most schools have already begun practicing for the upcoming season. The teams that are successful in October and November will be the teams that were dedicated to putting in the work on the practice field the next few weeks. It will be fun listening to radio hosts doing their “camp tours” and reporting on what they see behind the scenes. It will be nerve wracking perusing the injury reports.
Also over the next few weeks, the Big 12 conference claims they will choose schools to bring into the conference through expansion. First, I think it is silly to establish some random deadline to make a decision as large as which schools will be invited. Nor am I convinced that the Big 12 gets how all of this is supposed to work. There is a lot of talk about adding Houston. Houston does nothing to further the brand of the Big 12. It’s a big television market but they already have that market share with Texas. The SEC on the other hand only adds teams that will increase the television footprint and therefore bring more money into the coffers for every school in the league to share. That is why you will probably not see a Clemson, Florida State or Georgia Tech invited to the SEC any time soon.
Enough talk about the lead up to the season, what about the actual season. The ultimate goal is to make it into the playoff. I will make my prediction for the 2016 Playoff (which is worth absolutely nothing). I am going with Clemson, Oklahoma, LSU and my way out on a limb prediction Michigan to make the playoff with Clemson beating LSU for the national championship. I really do not want to pick Michigan because I cannot stand Jim Harbaugh but I have to go with my gut. Let’s kick this baby off already.